A Rational Decision
by darkdoll25
Summary: Neal has just broken up with Sarah, who he had thought would last longer than Kate. What does Alex do to cheer him up?  Very short one-shot, only good for 5 minutes of your AlexxNeal hunger.


A/N: First White Collar fanfic (probably not the last) that I'm doing! Alex and Neal for life. No more Sarah, hopefully. AU, because I can't come up with complicated cons and stuff.

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"Sarah, listen, I'm not cheating on you!"

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, hands resting on the stairway pole.

Her eyes moist, she looks up at the most handsomest man she has ever met.

"We're over. There's no way back."

A thunderstorm then started, forcing the thunder to echo around the empty house. Neal rubs his face with his shaking hands. The first time that he had ever cared about a girl, ever since Kate's death, was leaving him. A sob escaped his throat, and tears started to flow down freely from his eyes.

Coughing, he grabs a towel and rubs his tears away. There's no use to go to work looking like a mess.

Doing his signature hat trick, his frown disappears into a smile.

"Neal. Are you alright?" June kindly asked her tenant. He reminded her a lot of Byron, who would always be happy. But Neal did not, even if he did pretend to be.

"Oh, June. I thought you weren't home."

"I just got back as your girlfriend got down from upstairs. Did something happen? She was crying a little."

"Ex-girlfriend."

"Neal.." Her voice, sickeningly dipped in sympathy, made Neal cringe. He didn't want anybody's pity. Especially June's.

"I'm going out for a walk, then to work. Good bye, June."

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The sun peeked out from the clouds, giving the world a mood opposite to what Neal Caffrey was feeling at the moment.

The bustling of New York City started as soon as the mailman came around with his bag full of letters. He stopped in front of the conman and handed him a letter.

On the front was addressed to Neal in very neat handwriting. He flipped to the back and propped the seal open with his finger.

As softly as he could, he gently slide the letter out of the envelope. A smile began to form as he read the contents.

[Neal. How are you? I'm sure you know who this is, because you are probably smiling right now. I'm going to be in town soon, look forward to my visit.

-Gardenia]

"Alex," he muttered, his eyes glowing as he quickly stuffed the letter into his vest pocket. He felt better already.

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Peter stared at the case file in his hand, groaning at the bare contents. Five thefts of very valuable art pieces, and somewhere tied in was an insurance fraud. It was a very good thing that Neal was going to bring Sarah over to help.

They are a good couple, thought Peter. If anyone can help Neal, it was Sarah. He broke into smiles every time that she was around. They were definitely in love.

"Peter, can you hear yourself? You sound like some kind of old grandpa, thinking of your kid's wedding," Agent Burke sighed and took a huge swig of his coffee mug.

"Finally going delusional?" A voice came from the open doorway of Peter's office. He literally chocked on his coffee, looking up in surprise.

"You're early," he replies scowling.

"I make an effort to be."

Peter looked around, searching for something. He opened his mouth to say something, and Neal interrupted.

"We broke up, so she won't be coming anymore."

A silence followed as Peter just stared at his co-worker. Broke up? As in, forever?

".. Say again?"

"We. Broke. Up. Do I need to spell it out for you, Peter?" He smirked, as if this didn't affect him at all. But in fact, he was still shaken by it. He wanted this to be longer than the time with Kate. He wanted to forget about the beautiful girl whom he had fallen in love with.

"Oh. Alright, you don't want to talk about it?" Peter frowned as concern crept into his tone.

"Me? Talk about it? Come on, Peter. This isn't some kind of love sick TV drama. We've got cases to solve! Chop chop!"

Peter laughed, perhaps he was just imagining it after all.

"Yeah, girls come and go right? Let's go solve some thefts!"

"It's what the FBI is all about.."

Neal looked outside of the large window, staring at the cars passing by. He was finally snapped out of his daze as his phone buzzed with a text message.

[Looks like someone's hearts in little pieces. –Gardenia]

His eyes widened as he spun around. There stood Alex, the beautiful fence that occasionally worked with him.

"A-Alex.." His voice went down three notches, and he whispered quickly.

"What are you doing here?"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the closet. A light hung from the ceiling of the enclosed space, making it seem as if Alex was filled with secrets. The shadows of her face flickered from side to side. Never stopping.

"I'm here to help the Feds," she sighed as Neal finally dropped his grasp of her arm. Rubbing it slowly, she continued.

"I get full immunity if I get a level 10 criminal behind bars. You do know what that means right?"

"Level 10?"

"I made it up. 1 being the least dangerous, 11 being the worst. So you see, I have all the reason to be here."

"Oh. So that's what you meant by the text message."

"Enough of this small talk. What's going on between you and Sarah?"

Alex lifted her hand and stroked Neal's downcast face. The light bulb keeps swaying.

"When we kissed after Alder was going to attempt to kill us.. Sarah she.."

"I know, I noticed you guys were together. I thought that she was okay after I spoke about it."

"Apparently, she's been thinking it over and over. She also found out about the treasure stash."

"No.."

"We're officially over, Alex. I thought she'd last longer.."

Alex shifted from her spot, suddenly uncomfortable. She was the Queen of Sly, the Seductress of the Century, yet this one man can make her feel so vulnerable. And right now, he needed her to be there for him. So what was the most rational decision Alex made?

She leaned in, and placed her mouth on his.

The light bulb went out.


End file.
